Thrifty Book Haul March 2017

I had an urge for some retail therapy this morning and not wanting to waste too much money, I decided to take a trip to the charity shops.  Gorgeous wakes up early like me and is the only one that will tolerate going anywhere near a charity shop, even the babies moan at me if I go into one, so I took him along with me.

I managed to find everyone something without wasting too much money.

The bag of little girl’s toys and the bag of balls cost 99p each, prompting Gorgeous to sing "Balls! Balls! Balls! Balls!" until I asked him to stop.  The acrylic paints were for Little Lady and cost £2, when I checked the Wilko website, I realised they cost that much anyway.

The two little dishes are to use for soap trays.  Both I and Little Lady have been using Shea Moisture Black Soap and the bars of soap are quite big and can get a little messy.  Normal soap trays are too small, so these will contain larger bars of soap.  Both together cost £2.

The two toiletry bags were £2 for both, the large one is a really good size to store stationary or make-up, but in the end I put small toys in it for the girls to play with when we go to my mum’s house 

The little kid’s books were 2 for 99p, with the Hungry Caterpillar for Baby.  The little green notebook was 50p and has dots inside.  It's perfect for a dots and boxes game I like to play with the boys, otherwise I will use it for taking rough notes.

I was looking for some engrossing fiction to get lost in, but the shelves full of chick-lit and supermarket thrillers didn't really appeal.  In the end, I picked three books which cost £5 altogether.  I really, really like the look of all three alhamdulillah.

Bargain Book Haul for January 2017

I am missing the boot sales we get to go to in summer, so made a trip to the charity shop to pick up some books for myself and the boys. Someone had given away shelves of sci-fi classics and I picked a few. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes has been on my reading list for ages and it's the first one I started with. I am really enjoying it.

The yellow book is Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood who is one of my favourite writers, occasionally her books get too surreal for me, but this is a collection of short stories so should be digestible enough even for my short attention span.

The Gifts of Imperfection is by Brene Brown who was made famous by her TED Talk on the power of vulnerability. That got me interested enough to want to try the book.

The rest are also self-help books which I have a weakness for. The Barefoot Doctor's Handbook for the Urban Warrior is probably not I would have picked up, except that I opened it to take a look and came across the following:

"Death
As a warrior, you're already dead"

Something about that resonated so deeply with me and I have always had a longing to be a braver more fearless soul, so I decided to take this book home too.

The paints are part of a little paint set stored in a lovely yellow tin. I really wanted to keep it, but in the end I gave it to Little Lady who will make good use of it.

Bargain Book Haul for January 2016

It has been quite some time since I found a good thrifty haul (like this, this, this or this amazing craft haul), especially as the boot fairs I enjoy so much don't start until near the end of March. So instead I made do with a trip to my local charity shop to hang out by the book shelves and see if anyhting caught my fancy.

I found a few treats for myself and the children and came away happy.

The books below were £1 each and two of them: Social Butterfly by Moni Mohsin and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston were ones on my reading list. The Leapfrog Leappad toy was discovered by Litte Man for Darling. It usually costs about £25 with the books for about £8, this one cost £3 with the batteries included. I am a big fan of this brand and she has really been enjoying playing with it.

The rainbow box sets below caght my eye immediatey and turned out to be Coaching Academy training DVD's (costing £3 per set).  I have long had an interest in coaching, so if I can make the time to sit through these, insh'Allah I hope they will benefit me personally and also help to determine if this something I want to pursue in the future.

The little set of books was new and nice for Darling and Baby to share.  I usually avoid ornaments or anything that is slightly chintzy or has no function, but this little bowl of fruit caught my eye and just enchanted me as I love miniatures.  The fruit is made of stoneand I can't tell if it is dyed in some way or the marble is coloured.  I have found a few similar on the internet (Etsy, eBay and antique shops) variously described as vintage Italian alabaster, onyx marble or dyed quartz carved fruit and selling for anything from £15 to £50. This little set cost £3.

I was quite happy with my finds and I am thoroughly enjoying the Social Butterfly book, this should keep me happy until the boot fairs start again.

Book Finds

Our local Library had a book sale recently, so we picked up some good reads for about £5.

Little lady wasn't too impressed by the Maths dictionary and practice books, but was excited aboutt The Magical Mermaid, the Lady Grace mysteries and Enid Blyron's Famous Five. I picked Walk Two Moons for her, which Phillip Pullman's Spring-Heeled Jack.

Little Man decided he had to have a book called Bums , Mr Biff the Boxer by Allen Ahlberg from the Happy Families series I loved as a child and randomly one about plants




These were the ones I picked for myself (I had to give up when I realised I couldn't carry anymore). I have started Fingersmith by Sarah Walters and I am engrossed. I have also started Good Harbour by Anita Diamant and am not too crazy about it so far, will see, as her Red Tent is a book I enjoyed thoroughly.

I am excited about Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian, which was the first book by a Chinese writer to win the Nobel peace prize and the map of Love by Egyptian author Ahdaf Soueif. I have heard about Yann Martel's Life of Pi, so have been curious and Stuart, A Life Backwards seems to have an interesting premise.

Plenty to keep us all happy then (okay, so maybe not Little Lady and the Maths Dictionary, but near enough).